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2.4: Niche Protection
The fifth session of The Brazen Helm. Played in July 2017. The Party * Eadmund, Human Magus * Sheng Háldott, Human Inquisitor * Wilhelm Widalis, Gnome Somaturge Journal Magnanimous Hint 27th of Oak Moon, 1985 – Red Dragonfly, Dewport, Ceraris Over the next week, the Red Dragonfly Inn sees a considerable increase in people coming to drink or just sit around. The Bakers continue their daily bread deliveries, but more importantly, they hype up the Brasshelms to all their customers, which includes most of the neighborhood. One late afternoon, Sheng is out running some errands (as he is wont to do) while Eadmund and Wilhelm sit at a table reading their respective books and chowing down on bread. Out of nowhere, the bounty hunter Cintia Cross appears and seats herself. Cintia: ”Well hello, how's business?” Eadmund: ”That reminds me, Wilhelm, you were saying something about buying lead plates to hide the mirror upstairs?” Cintia: ”Ooh, that sounds interesting. Do tell me more.” Eadmund: ”Oh, it's nothing important, just this magic item we came across and hid– ” The golem kicks Eadmund in the shin and Wilhelm gives him an angry look. There is a moment of awkward silence. Cintia: ”...Anyway, you were a big help with the Doewell case, and I did manage to cash in the bounty, thanks to you.” She reaches for the bread basket, only for Eadmund to pull it away. The Knights seem a bit cross over what happened back there. Cintia: ”I get the impression we didn't part on the best possible terms, but I'd like to try and make it up to you, if you don't mind.” Wilhelm: ”What is it this time?” Cintia: ”You probably know that the Silk Spiders control basically all the smuggling in Dewport. None of it is allowed to happen without their involvement, under threat of the Tailor. However, I heard a certain drunk orc ramble something about a smuggling operation without his blessing, with a meeting taking place today. Unfortunately, I'm busy with something else, so I figured I'd pass it onto you. The Tailor is going to catch them soon enough, so you could try and nab some bounties while you're at it.” Eadmund: ”Busy with what?” Cintia: ”Oh, you know. Work.” Wilhelm: ”Anything else you can share? What's the catch?” Cintia: ”No catch, take it or leave it. I don't know anything except that they're meeting in the River Quarter near the Julian Bridge at 9 o'clock today. Since they've managed to stay hidden until now, they're probably a pretty small group, but that's it. They seem to be cooperating with some goblin pirates based off-shore.” Cintia stands up and starts leaving. Despite Eadmund trying to stop her, she quickly swipes a bun from the basket and munches it loudly while waving and walking out the door. Eadmund and Wilhelm discuss what they're going to do. Though they have some doubts about Cintia's honesty, they start getting a bit excited. Even if Sheng doesn't show up, they bet they can handle this on their own. Simple bounty hunting can't even be that important anyway. They decide to scout out the location ahead of time. The Julian Bridge is, well, a bridge across the River Barca just a bit downstream of the larger Stonegard Bridge. The Knights try to look for a good vantage point of the area, and since the City Guard doesn't really operate in the River District these days, there's a decommissioned guard tower right near the bridge. They stop by the Red Dragonfly again, but Sheng has yet to show himself, so they leave an incredibly vague note to explain the situation and go sit at the top of the tower as inconspicuously as possible. They spend the evening reading books and chewing on beef jerky from a street vendor. Eadmund puts a note at the top of the stairs saying ”No Girls Cintia Allowed”. Eventually two torch-lit figures and a horsecart appear from the darkness near a small loading dock some 150 feet down the river. Right as the Smoke District clock tower strikes 9, a large rowboat pulls up, rowed by four small figures with a bigger one sitting in the back. As the bigger one shakes hands and pats backs with one of the people on land, the small ones start moving large crates from the boat to the horsecart. Most of the crates are relatively small, but two are large, long and rectangular. Eadmund: ”I bet they're smuggling corpses!” Wilhelm: ”What the... Why would anyone smuggle corpses!?” Eadmund gets impatient and romps down the stairs, moving closer for a better view. The two men on shore are orcs, the small ones are goblins and the last is a hobgoblin. As the transaction is seemingly finished, the hobgoblin is handed a sizable coin pouch and the rowboat goes its merry way. Sheng Makes a Cameo Eadmund decides to act before it's too late. He breaks out into a run and sprints right by the orcs, who only have time to yell in confusion before Eadmund casts a Bladed Dash to leap onto the boat and slash at two goblins, one of whom falls into the water. Wilhelm, who was following a good distance behind Eadmund, sends in his golem and flings some mud to keep the orcs occupied. The goblins panic while the hobgoblin stands up in the swinging boat, draws his own sword and roars in Eadmund's face. The hobgoblin's sword crackles with electricity and aims for Eadmund's head, but he manages to dodge. However, what he doesn't see is the sword coming back for a second swing. Sheng, after taking some wrong turns thanks to the unhelpful instructions on the note, picks the perfect time to appear on the scene. Seeing a glowing blade about to strike Eadmund on the temple, he yells out a quick warning, and the alerted Eadmund manages to raise his arm, taking a deep gash there instead. The blow sends him tumbling into the water, but he manages to pull off a Burning Hands and light the rowboat on fire. Everything went just as he'd planned, actually. What this says about his plans is a different matter. The remaining pirates, ranting furiously in a foreign language, tumble into the river soon after. On shore, the mud-covered orcs are having trouble dealing more than surface damage to the wooden golem. In a desperate move, one of them chooses to stab the already-distressed horse in the bum, sending it and the mysterious cargo galloping aimlessly down a side road. Sheng makes a snap judgment to leave the orcs for Wilhelm, cast Expeditious Retreat on himself and run after the cart. He manages to catch up to it a moment later, gracefully leap on top and lie low as to try and conceal himself while the horse keeps speeding forward. Back at the river, the smaller goblins seem to have dispersed or drowned, but their hobgoblin leader is swimming towards the opposite riverbank while the flaming rowboat starts to sink. Wilhelm shouts for Eadmund to try and fetch the hobgoblin's apparently magical sword, and he is happy to oblige. After casting Daze on the pirate, he is able to catch up and grab the sword from his belt, snatching the coin pouch while he's at it, and tries to swim away. However, the recovered hobgoblin gives chase and starts wrestling with him in the water. He finally gives up and flees for good when Eadmund pulls a dagger and slashes at his fingers. Meanwhile, the golem gives the orcs a solid beating and Wilhelm comes over to make sure they won't bleed out from it. Eadmund reaches the shore and fires a random arrow in the hobgoblin pirate's rough direction, where it plunks harmlessly into the water. He casts Detect Magic on the looted sword, gets no result and angrily throws it in as well. Eadmund: "Hey, was Sheng here just now?" Wilhelm: "I think? He showed up, yelled something and then went after the cart within like six seconds." While Wilhelm rounds up the orcs, Eadmund runs across the bridge towards where the hobgoblin is trying to quietly swim along the edge. He Enlarges himself, fishes up the pirate, punches him unconscious and drags him back. They tie together all three captives and leave them inside the tower they were in earlier. Sheng can't see very well while pressed against the top of the cart, but he hears someone start shouting in Orcish as he speeds by. He decides now might be a good time to stop, and gives the horse a Command to ”Halt”. Of course, a horse coming to an abrupt stop while pulling a cart at full speed doesn't end very well, sending the animal and cart tumbling down the street while Sheng himself is painfully thrown onto the cobblestones forearms first. However, he is able to recover quickly and use the fallen cart as cover to slip into an adjacent alley. The orc, meanwhile, seems to be urgently shouting towards a nearby building. He opens a gate in a tall stone fence and two other armed men (one orc and one human) come out to investigate the screaming horse and damaged crates while conversing in Orcish. Sheng sees that some fish have spilled out from one of the larger boxes and some cloth from a smaller one. He briefly wonders why anyone would smuggle either of those, but has to quickly cast Invisibility and slip by the three men before they reach his hiding spot. After a moment of heated discussion, the orcs leave the human to watch the scene while they return to the house. Sheng stealthily follows them through the gate and the front door of what seems like some sort of old shop. On a second-floor gallery, a hobgoblin that looks like the group's leader is loudly arguing with a high elf who insists on answering in Elven. One of the orcs sits down at a nearby table and starts idly picking under his nails or something while the other enters a back room, with Sheng close in tow. The orc spends a while digging around in a drawer that Sheng can see contains several potions, takes out a couple of red ones (a near-universal sign of healing potions) and heads towards the door again. Smuggler Snubbers Eadmund and Wilhelm head down the same street as Sheng and the cart did. When the human watching the area sees them walking towards him, Eadmund still Enlarged, he makes a panicked run for the building. Eadmund intercepts him in the front yard and he's left squirming on the ground, begging for his life. At the same moment, the orc that Sheng was following opens the door, stares at Eadmund for the world's longest second and shuts it again. The shop is filled with hasty shouting and both sides prepare for combat. Wilhelm sits down, safe behind the stone fence, and projects into his golem. Eadmund is already standing in the front yard, scimitar in hand, and Sheng is in the back room shoving stolen vials into his bag. The panicked human drops his sword on the ground and is able to limp into the darkness while everyone is more focused on the immediate situation. Meanwhile, Sheng can see the smugglers inside the shop take positions next to the door and a front window, and up on the gallery. What follows is a complete mess of people opening and closing the front door, half-blind arrows flying around and Eadmund's massive arm reaching in through the window to slash at nearby enemies. Sheng, meanwhile, "contributes" in his characteristic way by trying not to break his Invisibility and seeking a better position instead. However, by total coincidence, this places him inside a Glitterdust spell cast by the leading hobgoblin. It fails to blind Eadmund, only affecting a hapless orc, but the sparkles stick onto Sheng and reveal his presence. Swinging a flaming mace, the hobgoblin leaps from the gallery, roaring a war cry. Sheng roars back, surprising the hobgoblin, who isn't used to that sort of reaction. He misses his swing but almost lands on top of Sheng, who goes stumbling backwards. A second attack is prepared, the mace crackling with both fire and acidic energy. Wilhelm's golem sees this and makes a dramatic save, leaping across a table to intercept a meteoric strike that rips its wooden head clean off and sends it hurtling out the window. Wilhelm wakes up in his own body with a massive headache just in time to see the golem's head land right in front of him. Sheng is impressed that something managed to actually destroy Wilhelm's seemingly invulnerable golem, but most importantly happy that he wasn't on the receiving end himself. Taking advantage of this opening, he steps to the side and sends two arrows at the hobgoblin. The first hits its target in the chest and the second in the head, sticking out the other side and nailing him onto a wall. All that remains is the elf on the gallery, who apparently decides to 'bugger this' and dashes into a room behind him. Sheng assumes the elf is making a run for it and quickly heads into the back room he was in earlier, hurtling through a closed window to land in an alley amidst a spray of glass shards. A window on the top floor is open, but the elf is nowhere to be seen. Muttering in frustration, Sheng clambers back inside. Eadmund finds a bed on the upper floor and promptly collapses on it, chugging a healing potion for some of his more serious wounds. Wilhelm wobbles into the shop, holding both his head and the golem's, which he reattaches. In the aftermath of the battle, the Knights confirm that they have one unconscious smuggler, two dead ones and two escapees, plus the ones waiting in the tower. From their search of the shop, they can conclude that the smugglers have spent at least a few days living there, but only used it as a dropoff point and not as any sort of storage for their wares. Sheng goes through the potions he found and gulps down a strangely clear one, finding out that it is indeed almost pure alcohol that his superhuman tolerance somehow takes in stride. They realize that the orc carrying the healing potions had actually intended them for the injured horse, which elicits some sympathy. They head over to do the same, and look through the broken crates while they're at it. Indeed, the smaller ones have relatively mundane-looking textiles, but also secret compartments under false bottoms. These compartments are shoved full of some ginger-looking roots. Eadmund cuts off a small piece and starts chewing on it. Wilhelm: ”Hmm... I think I recognize this. They call it goblinroot. It grows in Gatagor and some folks, orcs in particular, like using it as a drug of sorts. When eaten, it causes a... mindless... berserk... kind of effect...” Everyone stares in slightly horrified silence at Eadmund, who has stopped chewing. Eventually the golem just slaps him on the back of the head and he spits out the root. Of course, Sheng isn't that much better for just drinking a suspicious liquid found in an enemy base, but geez, get it together. The large rectangular crates hide something even more strange. Each crate has a magical paper seal, which the Knights recognize as something similar to Gentle Repose, sometimes used to stop valuable contents from rotting. However, beneath a layer of fresh fish they find large, hairy corpses – bugbears, one in each crate. Eadmund: ”I told you it was corpses! I mean, I didn't believe it myself, but still.” They only have vague guesses as to what the corpses might be for, though. They calm down the horse and load their whole haul onto the wobbling cart, including the crates, all the corpses and their sole live captive. They head to the tower, too, but the captives left there have disappeared without a trace – Eadmund is mostly upset about the loss of his expensive rope, though. They're in luck that the people of Dewport, especially the River Quarter, are so good at minding their own business, as they really have a made lot of noise throughout the night. They take their cart to the City Guard barracks where Lieutenant Tara Fencer meets them with a very bemused expression. They give her a succinct summary of the events. Fencer: ”Geez, I've never run into corpse smuggling before... You're right that it suggests either some sort of necromancy or something very very strange, but this is the first the Guard has heard of it. We'll keep an eye out, of course, and try to interrogate that smuggler you captured.” They get their due payment for all the bounties they brought in, dead or alive. All (non-Silk Spider) smugglers carry a standard reward, but the leader Randor Irontooth has his own larger bounty for various violent and other crimes. Fencer: "We also used to have a reward for bringing in contraband like this goblinroot, but it kind of fell apart when it turned into smugglers practically selling us their own wares." The Knights return to the Red Dragonfly relatively satisfied, but a bit concerned about the total of five criminals they allowed to get away. The Knights have reached level 5. Category:Lorelm Category:Kampanjat Category:Content Category:English